ARCS Model

The ARCs Model was originally created by Keller in 1984 as a method for improving the motivational appeal of instructional materials. It has three distinct features: It contains four conceptual categories that include characteristics of human motivation: attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction. It includes sets of strategies for each category – to use to enhance the motivational appeal of instruction. It incorporates a systematic design process called motivational design that consists of the steps: define, design, develop, and evaluate. It is grounded in expectancy-value theory (derived from the work of Tolman and Lewin in the 1930s), which assumes that people are motivated to engage in an activity if they expect it will satisfy personal needs or result in success. Keller created it because there were no theories or models at the time that addressed the question of how to create instruction that makes people want to learn.